New Bike Spyder information

My new Facebook friend from Germany, Tobias sent me a massive amount of new Bike Spyder naming and numbering information. Tobias is a friend of one of the people involved in the entire Bike Spyder 1990s production process.

He shared that the different graphics on these historic and limited bicycles belongs to two different production batches. Bike Spyder with head tube plaques showing #1 through #30 have "Weissach Bike Spyder" on the frame. The following #31 through the planned #60, show "CAT Bike Spyder". CAT stands for Carbon, Aluminum, Titanium. CAT not only represents the material used, but also the company name of Carbon, Aluminum, Titan Produkte GmbH. Tobias also mentioned that in the last batch, there were four made with suspension forks. The bikes were produced from 1992-1994. To date, I have now only seen or heard of Bike Spyder #0, #1, #33, #37 and #39. The rest have not appeared on the internet for sale or on display. Particularly interesting, Tobias owns Weissach Bike Spyder #0 (photos above). 

The first Bike Spyder was completed in 1991 at the Porsche Weissach R&D prototype shop and called the Porsche Bike Spyder 9.85. 9.85 stands for 9.85 kilograms (21.7 pounds). This bike was featured in the May 1991 Porsche magazine and built by Dr. Ulrich Bez, Thomas Menzel and Porsche engineers. Once Bez left Porsche, he and Menzel built the Bike Spyder #0 as a template for the following 50 bikes produced by CAT. The Bike Spyder #0 prototype owned by Tobias has a Specialized "glazed red" frame with removable labels and "Weissach Bike Spyder" stickers on the paint. The production #1 through #50 bikes have a clear carbon frame with decals under the clear coat.

It was incredible to get more information from Tobias. The more history I learn about these bikes, the more interesting it gets.

Porsche wins both Daytona GTD classes

 

Porsche won both the GTD Pro and GTD classes at the 24 Hours of Daytona! Well deserved win and I again watched most of the race from the warm and comfort of my living room. I have watched a lot of these in my lifetime. Sometimes you win, sometimes not. But definitely feels better to watch the win!

Porsche parking

It's still the middle of winter, and only stationary cycling for me of late. But the weather dried up enough for a short spin in the Boxster. Stopping at the store, I apparently found the "Porsche parking".

Votec GS4 manuals

From time to time, I am asked about Porsche Votec GS4 fork manuals. I don't have a Porsche Bike with this fork, but have collected manuals from each of the three GS4 models. They are in German, but show the forks and all internal parts and pieces. Also, here's a handy video, also in German. And a fast frame video showing the entire GS4 rebuild process. Why German? Well, these forks were made in Germany by Votec and Porsche Bikes with GS4 forks were rarely sold outside Germany. Most Porsche Bikes in the USA had GS97 or GS3 forks. But if you have these forks, these documents will be good to have.

• GS4 Classic
• GS4 Air2
• GS4 Air Plus

Bikester found

The Bikester has been found! The one and only 1997 Porsche Bikester prototype has been found in the basement of the Porsche car collection archives. Asking the good folks at Porsche to keep looking finally paid off. Porsche has offered to have professional photos taken of the Bikester, so I'll post those as soon as I get them. However, this is definitely the frame and rims from the Bikester, but the red seat, red fenders with integrated lights and shocks have all been replaced with parts from a Bike ST. Not sure why ... the search continues!

Virtual Le Mans 24 Hours

 

On a cold day in Maryland, I’m watching the Virtual Le Mans 24 Hour race on my computer. Porsche is running two factory 911 RSRs in the GTE class. 

New Porsche prototype tested

First photos from the first shakedown test drive of the new Porsche LMDh prototype were released today. Looks sharp. Can't wait to see it race ... and in sim!

Bikester story published

My story about solving the 1997 Porsche Bikester mystery was published today on PCA.org. Here is a link to the story.

Porsche eBike X+ video

This limited edition eBike X+ came out right before the 2021 eBike Cross and Sport. But only 250 were made. This bike was probably "testing the waters" before launching the new eBikes.

Porsche knives

I still use my Porsche Design Type 301 kitchen knives everyday. Great quality knives. Probably last forever. 

Long Beach 919

 

Love driving the Porsche 919 Hybrid around Long Beach.

Winter arrived

 

Winter has finally arrived with some snow today. Yesterday was nearly 60 degrees with a walk along Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis. Today is a little snow shoveling and sim racing.

Bike S poster framed

Finishing the Bike S illustration, I printed 18"x24" at Staples and got a frame from Michaels to complete the project. The poster is now on the garage wall.